Stock Android may not make a special noise when plugged in to charge over USB, but it does play a tone when your device comes in contact with a wireless charger. Until now though, it hasn't been possible to disable this sound without adjusting the system volume. In Android M that will apparently change, as a new toggle joins the lineup in "Other sounds."

The significance of SoundHUD becomes apparent only when you pay ridiculously close attention to Android news. As I'm sure most of you do, this will all fit together nicely. SoundHUD picks up where the now-defunct Noyze left off to make it easier to control the volume on your device. It also adds a simple way to get silent mode (more or less) back on Lollipop.

The latest version of the Sonos Android app makes life easier for families and roommates alike. Instead of juggling a single login, users can now hop around between multiple accounts. The software is capable of handling up to 32, large enough to stick in the lounge of a college dorm. Each account has its own nickname and custom music experience.

Most of what Google has done in lollipop is great—better design, thoughtful features, and better developer support. However, there are few wonky things going on in this first release, and it's hard to know if they're intentional or not. Case in point, the lack of silent mode on phones. Lowering the volume only offers vibrate mode, and the new priority notification system isn't going to help you.

If we're being honest, it's hard to deny that one of Android's most obnoxious flaws comes in the category of audio performance. Playing some music is generally fine, but the issues start to become obvious after introducing very high quality audio or trying to achieve precise timing or real-time processing. With the L Developer Preview, it appears that Google is driving to improve upon these weaknesses and give audio performance the shot of adrenaline it needs. In a session at Google I/O 2014 titled "Building great multi-media experiences on Android," Glenn Kasten and Andy Hung took to the stage to explain the improvements appearing in the next revision of Android that can give us access to higher quality sound and greatly reduced lag in audio input.

We all use our smartphones differently. Some people rely on them for web browsing and apps, some for texting, and many of us still resort to making calls, you know, when we have to. Even within those categories, several patterns emerge and certain habits and practices have been developed. Many of us have long since abandoned using wired headsets for calling, but a lot of people still prefer them to keeping Bluetooth headsets charged or holding a 5-inch phone against an ear. Unfortunately, these simple wired accessories can also be plagued by bugs like anything else, and both the Nexus 4 and 5 seem to suffer from a pretty big one.

We've all heard the story before. A brand new, very popular device rolls out to the public and everybody hurries to get their hands on it. Shortly thereafter, people start to notice some of the more serious issues that degrade the experience or even make the gadget unusable. When that device is a phone and one of those issues is audio quality during calls and recordings, people can become justifiably angry. It seems this is exactly what's happening with quite a few Nexus 5 owners, as audio going into the built-in microphone is plagued by hissing, popping, loud static, and very low volume.

SoundCloud is known for letting users share original audio, and it's a great way to hear a bit of what creative types are out there, well, creating. With millions of users, there's ample reason to keep the Android app from stagnating for too long. So version 2.7 is now rolling out, and it brings a handful of new features that improve the interface and make discovering new content even easier.

The side menu has been redesigned to make most-used functions more accessible. It comes with a slimmer look that improves upon what is already an attractive UI. Some settings have been tucked away under the options menu, such as Who to follow, activity, record, and settings.

If you read our Nexus 5 Voltron-style review, you know that one of the Nexus 5's only real failings is its tiny, tinny speaker. To quote Mr. Ruddock: "It doesn't get very loud, the quality is pretty gag-worthy." A few XDA-Developers members decided to investigate the actual hardware on the speaker, leading Adam Outler to conclude that at least some units were affected by a manufacturing defect. He decided to fix this problem the XDA way: by cracking the phone open and poking holes in it.

OK, so it's a little more subtle than that. Outler suspects that runny manufacturer glue is covering some of the ports in the speaker unit used to resonate sound outwards, muffling the speaker to an extreme and annoying degree for some users.

Little things can add a lot of otherwise unnoticed polish to the apps we use and the games we play on a daily basis. Thanks to animations, sound effects, music, and custom graphics, our software tends to feel more responsive and engaging. But sometimes a bug comes along and breaks a part of that experience. Today, we're going to take a look at one of the more user-facing bugs to sneak out with Android 4.3: automatically looping sounds are broken in numerous apps.

The issue comes up when making a simple call to the play() method of the SoundPoolclass. One of the parameters passed in during the call will set the chosen sound to automatically repeat, either continuously or for a specific number of times.